A silent assailant: Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinky Rahane (Pic: AFP)

In the dressing room, full of fancy hairstyles and bodies covered with tattoos, there stayed a man with a meek attitude. The one delivering every single time the team required, the name is 'Ajinkya Madhukar Rahane'.

The man who always prefers to reply with his willow instead of words, Ajinkya never disappointed the cricket spectators. He batted for India in all circumstances whether it be opening the innings or at number four or five. Rahane always followed Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid during his early cricketing days.

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The famous Gabba Test win for India came under Ajinkya Rahane's captaincy. In December 2020, he was made captain of the Indian team for the final three matches of India's tour of Australia in place of Virat Kohli, who was taking paternity leave. In the second test, Rahane scored 112 in the first innings and 27' in the second innings guided India to a 8 wicket victory and was awarded as man of the match.

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After drawing the third test at Sydney, India went on to win the fourth test in Brisbane and handed Australia their first Test defeat at The Gabba in 32 years with Rahane contributing to the winning cause with a quickfire 24 runs off 22 balls in the second innings and India winning the series 2-1. He finished the series as the third-highest run-getter with 268 runs at an average of 38.28. Rahane was praised by many for his captaincy which led the Indian side to secure a historic Test win against Australia despite losing out on a few players.

Ajinkya Rahane's place in the T20I and ODI squad was unsure due to his unstable form in the limited-overs format of the game. Smashing two back-to-back centuries in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia helped Ajinkya secure his place in India's ODI squad. He was picked as a replacement opening batsman for Virender Sehwag. He showed comfort in batting in the top order of the team by smashing centuries against England and Sri Lanka. He scored both centuries while opening the innings for the 'Men in Blue'. Despite, showcasing top knocks, Rohit Sharma's double century against Sri Lanka pushed Rahane back to the middle order.

So far, the right-hander has 12 Test centuries registered to his name and his highest score is 188 runs which came against New Zealand back in the year 2016. The veteran also has three ODI centuries to his name.